MOSCOW, October 14. / TASS /. The head of the Accounts Chamber, Alexei Kudrin, doubts that Russia's economic growth in 2021 will reach 3.1%, said he at the Budget and Taxes meeting at the State Duma Committee on Monday.
"Now it [the forecast] is reduced to 1.7%. However, in 2021 [the forecast] remains at the same level - 3.1%. The leap from 1.7% growth rate to 3.1%, of course, is inexplicable for us, we believe that there will be no such growth, and even if we now look at the forecast of the Central Bank - I refer to the authorities - the Central Bank also gives growth rates of no more than 2.5%. Thus, we still doubt such rapid growth," Kudrin said.
He explained that such rapid growth was predicted based on the forecast of investment growth from 2% in 2019 to 5% in 2020, but in the first half of 2019, investments grew by 1.6%. "Those measures that have just been mentioned, which should improve the investment climate, stimulate private investment, in our opinion, are not yet sufficient enough to complete this breakthrough in investment growth," said Kudrin. The Russian Federal budget for 2020-2021 provides for the growth of the economy at 3.1% and 3.2% respectively. The basic forecast for the socio-economic development in Russia is based on the assumption that the global economic growth rate will slow down to 3% in 2019 for the first time since 2009, and also throughout the forecast period, the restrictive measures taken by foreign states against the country will be maintained.